Roeder wary of falling flat against Belgian part-timers

Into wet, grey, flat Flanders came Newcastle United yesterday, with their manager, Glenn Roeder, nursing another injury - this time to his captain Scott Parker's hamstring - and a sense of wariness. There is an expectation, due to the smallness of Zulte-Waregem, their part-time status and date of formation in 2001, that Newcastle should coast through to the last 16, but that all seems too cosy a notion to Roeder and in a couple of respects his caution is well-founded.

Over two legs, Newcastle should prevail of course. Zulte-Waregem, a merger of two clubs, one amateur and tiny, Zultse, the other long-established but broke, Waregem, have drawn comparisons in England with MK Dons or Rushden & Diamonds but those have focused on the Zulte half of the club.

True to a cup cliché, Zulte's squad contains the obligatory PE teacher, the roadbuilder and has a manager, Francky Dury, who until a fortnight ago was a policeman in Ghent as well as coach of last season's Belgium Cup winners. This is the part of the club that has a ground not fit to stage European games so tonight's, as with the previous three this season, has been switched to Ghent.

But the Waregem element of the pact feels patronised. This is being marketed as the new club's first foray into Europe but during the 1985-86 season KSV Waregem went to Milan in the third round of the Uefa Cup and won 2-1 in the San Siro. The result was significant in Milan in that it helped trigger the appointment of a new club president, Silvio Berlusconi. Waregem lost to Cologne in the semi-final and by the 1990s, after relegations, verged on bankruptcy. Hence the merger.

Last season's cup win shows ability and they are 10th in the Jupiler League. In the Uefa Cup, they knocked out Lokomotiv Moscow in qualifying and Austria Vienna and Sparta Prague were beaten in the group. But Dury has said it is time for the Uefa Cup run to end as it is interfering with Zulte's attempt to stay in the top flight. Roeder did not believe him.

"Everyone is surprised that we are still in the competition," Dury said, "this was not in our plans. We'll try to continue representing Belgian football, we know the honour of Belgian football is in our hands. My team wants to beat Newcastle but we are at our limit. It is too difficult for a team like ours and we should be realistic. We're a small team but we have grown like crazy."

"He cannot be serious if he's saying this is where his club's European dream ends," Roeder responded. "We're confident going into the game that, over the two legs, we can get into the last 16, but I haven't taken any notice of what he's said. We'll just make sure we get the job done without worrying about what the coach has said about it being a gimme. It isn't."

Nicky Butt will captain Newcastle for the first time, completing a journey from pariah to leader and Celestine Babayaro has travelled despite the death of his younger brother last Friday. Up front Antoine Sibierski will have an interesting evening as he will be marked by Frédéric Dindeleux, who was best man at Sibierski's wedding. And Roeder had some news of another Newcastle striker, Michael Owen, who started running last week - "virtually at full blast. He was blowing hard at the end of it." Newcastle will hope they are not tonight.